Research the topic of your MLA report by referencing useful information representing all viewpoints of your topic. Form a tentative thesis based on the information from your sources, such as "In Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man is Hard to Find,' themes of morality are shown in the portrayal of the characters." Revise your tentative thesis to be more comprehensive as you delve deeper into source material, such as "In Flannery O'Connor's 'A Good Man is Hard to Find,' themes of morality are shown in the grandmother's conservative views, Red Sammy's blind trust and the Misfit's code of 'no pleasure but meanness.'"
Organize the evidence you plan to discuss in support of your thesis. Outline a simple structure of your argument, and how you plan to defend your claims. For example: The grandmother believes people to be good if they believe what she believes in; Red Sammy's gullibility shows he trusts most, if not all, people to be good; and the Misfit revokes morality by taking advantages of others and killing them.
Cite all quotations and ideas generated from another author. You do not have to cite source material if the information is common knowledge, such as proper names and dates. Introduce quotes or ideas with "signal phrases" crediting the source to its author and referencing the page number in parentheses. For example: "According to Flannery O'Connor... (1)."
Place quotation marks around direct quotes from other authors. Follow the quote by the author's last name and page numbers referenced, in parentheses. For example: (Smith, 1).
Paraphrase source material in your own words. Use a signal phrase to let the audience know the origin of the idea. Avoid using similar sentence structure from the original source.
Alphabetically arrange a works cited list at the end of the report. Cite books by: author last and first name; title of work, italicized; city of publication, publisher, date of publication; and medium of publication. For example:
Tan, Amy. The Bonesetter's Daughter. New York: Putnam, 2001. Print.
Cite a well-known encyclopedia or dictionary by: listing the author's last and first name; the title of the article in quotations; the title of the encyclopedia; the date of the edition; and the medium of publication. For example:
Posner, Rebecca. "Romance Languages." The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 15th ed. 1987. Print.
List magazine and newspaper articles by: author last and first name; title of work in quotations; title of periodical, italicized, volume number, date, pages referenced; and medium of publication. For example:
Trillin, Calvin. "Culture Shopping." New Yorker 15 Feb. 1993: 48-51. Print.
Reference online sources by: author last and first name; title of work in quotations; title of site, italicized; date of publication or last update; site sponsor if available; medium of publication; date of access; and the URL if instructed . For example: Shiva, Vandana. "Bioethics: A Third World Issue." NativeWeb. 15 Sept. 2001. Web. 20 July 2010. http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/shiva.html.